6 Unromantic Things That Happened On Valentine’s Day

The most romantic day of the year is here, and couples all around the world will be putting on their glad-rags ahead of a rose-tinted night of chocolate, flowers and the rest. There’s no shortage of cynicism when it comes to Valentine’s Day in the 21st century however, and the anti-romance lot might be looking for some ammo when it comes to dragging others back down to their curmudgeonly level. There’s more to February 14 than amorous longing, and history is full of events both good and bad that took place on the day of Saint Valentine, who also happens to be the patron saint of beekeepers and epilepsy.

YouTube Was Launched

It is difficult to imagine in the modern age, but there was once a time when there was no such thing as YouTube. Sharing videos on the internet was difficult, and three PayPal employees decided to do something about it. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim subsequently established YouTube, with its first headquarters located above a pizzeria in San Mateo. The website went live on February 14, 2005, and 13 years later more than 400 hours of content is uploaded to the channel every minute. Check out our channel here!

The 20th Soviet Congress Begins

On Valentine’s Day 1956, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union got underway in Moscow. It was always going to be a history-making affair, as it was the first Congress to be held following the death of Joseph Stalin. The Congress came to a dramatic end, with First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev denouncing Stalin and his crimes, accusing the former leader of distorting the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism. The speech sent shockwaves around the world.

Khrushchev shocked the world in Moscow [photo : Getty Images}

Mostar Was Liberated

Well, that entirely depends on your ideological bias when it comes to the former Yugoslavia. On February 14 1945, as the war in Europe was lurching to its end, Yugoslav Partisans liberated the famous Herzegovinian city of Mostar from the fascist Independent State of Croatia. The city went on to flourish in the south Slavic state, only to be ripped apart once more during the Bosnian War of the early ‘90s.

Mostar’s iconic Stari Most

The First Serbian Uprising Kicks Off

Sticking with the lands of the former Yugoslavia, Valentine’s Day 1804 was the day that Djordje Petrović (Karadjorjde) led his revolutionary Serbs into battle against the Ottoman Empire in the First Serbian Uprising, although the numeral there should tell you how well it turned out. The conflict continued for nine and a half years, and ended with Karadjordje in exile and brutal Ottoman reprisals. The Second Uprising proved far more successful.

The Uprising quickly took charge of Belgrade, but not for long [photo: Vladimir Nenezic/shutterstock]

An Astronomical Trailblazer Is Born

Born in Varna (Bulgaria) to a Swiss father and a Czech mother, Fritz Zwicky made his name in the United States of America. He was the first astronomer to put serious thought into the existence of dark matter, dragging the study of theoretical astronomy along with him.

Zwicky was born in beautiful Varna [photo : Valentin Valkov]

A Mistaken Bombing

The Allies famously dropped tonnes of carnage onto the unsuspecting civilians of Dresden on Valentine’s Day, but the bombing of Prague on the same day is lesser known. On this day in 1945, US Army Air Forces dropped some 152 tons of violence onto the ordinary people of the Czech capital, killing 701 and injuring well over a thousand. This was bad enough, but the wound was deepened when it was revealed that poor weather meant that the Allies believed they were bombing Dresden. Prague was never a target.

Prague was wrongly bombed at the end of WWII [photo : RossHelen/shutterstock]